PSI Courses

The PSI program starts in mid-August and runs for 10 months to June of the following calendar year. Successful graduates of PSI will receive both a master's degree in physics from the University of Waterloo and a Perimeter Scholars International Certificate from the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. All courses take place at Perimeter Institute.

PSI admitted its first class in the summer of 2009, graduating in 2010, and has gone on to graduate eight full classes through the 2017 period.

Curriculum

The coursework is divided into four phases and a short research project, the essay. The full course will advance:

Research Skills: problem formulation and solving, presentation skills and necessary background in numerical methods and mathematics (Four weeks, full time).

Reviews: subdisciplinary subjects, such as particle physics, cosmology, quantum information, quantum foundations and condensed matter physics. Students will choose from a selection of courses (Three three-week sessions, each with three courses running in parallel. Students are required to take at least four review courses in order to meet course requirements).

Explorations: short, in-depth courses on specialized fields which are currently "hot." Students will choose from a selection of courses (Three three-week sessions, each with three courses running in parallel. Students are required to take at least two exploration courses in order to meet course requirements).

Essay: Each student undertakes a short research project supervised by a local or outside Faculty member, and produces an essay which is publicly presented and defended.

The program also includes remedial English courses, training in scientific writing, and presentation workshops.

2017/2018 PSI Timetable(Click on image to enlarge)

ASSESSMENT

Although all course grades are either "credit" or "no credit," PSI's approach to evaluation involves assessment throughout the year conducted by the PSI Fellows. This assessment is in the form of oral interviews (for core courses), homework assignments, and tutorial participation. The goal is to encourage all students to achieve their potential and to avoid grade-chasing competition.

FRONT-END COURSES

The Front-End begins the second week of August and runs for four weeks. The Front-End courses are short courses intended to provide mathematics and physics background useful for the rest of the PSI year. Recent courses and topics include:

REVIEW COURSES

January to March. Review courses introduce students to modern topics and research subfields. Students take at least four out of nine courses. Each course is three weeks. Recent courses and topics include:

Quantum FoundationsOperational and realistic approaches to the interpretation of quantum mechanics, local realism and the EPR argument, Bell's theorem and non-locality, contextuality and the Kochen-Specker theorem, deBroglie-Bohm interpretation, many worlds interpretation.

EXPLORATIONS COURSES

March to April. Explorations courses cover cutting-edge research topics from various specialized subfields. Students take at least two out of five or six courses offered. Courses are two three-week sessions. Recent courses and topics include: